Indore State Explained

Native Name:Indūra rājya (Marathi)
Conventional Long Name:State of Indore
Common Name:Indore
Stat Area1:25,646
Stat Year1:1931
Stat Pop1:13,25,089
Year Start:1732
Date Start:29 July
Event Start:Established
Status:State Within the Maratha Confederacy (1731–1818)
Protectorate of the East India Company (1818–1857)
Princely State of the British Raj (1857–1947)
State of the Dominion of India (1947–1948)
Year End:1948
Date End:1 January
Event End:Accession to
Dominion of India
P1:Maratha Confederacy
S1:Dominion of India
Flag P1:Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg
Border P1:no
Flag S1:Flag of India.svg
Flag Border:no
Flag Caption:Top: Flag (1732–1818)
Bottom: Flag (1818–1950)
Image Map Caption:Map of the territories of Indore State, some forming enclaves in neighbouring Gwalior and Bhopal states
Title Leader:Raja
Year Leader1:1732–1766 (first)
Leader1:Malhar Rao Holkar
Year Leader2:1926–1948 (last)
Leader2:Yashwant Rao Holkar II
Today:India
Madhya Pradesh
Capital:Indore
Image Flag2:Flag of Indore.svg

Indore State was a kingdom within the Maratha Confederacy ruled by the Maratha Holkar dynasty.[1] After 1857, Indore became a 19-gun salute princely state within the Central India Agency of the Indian Empire under British protection.

Indore State was located in the present-day Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, with its capital at the city of Indore. The state had an area of 24,605 km2 and a population of 1,325,089 in 1931. Other important towns besides Indore were Rampura, Khargone, Maheshwar, Mehidpur, Barwaha, and Bhanpura; there were a total of 3,368 villages.[2]

History

See also: Dewas Junior, Dewas Senior, Dhar State and Gwalior State.

By 1720, the headquarters of the local pargana was transferred from Kampel to Indore due to the increasing commercial activity in the city. On 18 May 1724, the Nizam accepted the rights of the Maratha Peshwa Baji Rao I to collect chauth (taxes) from the area. In 1733, the Peshwa assumed full control of Malwa and appointed his commander Malhar Rao Holkar as the subahdar of the province.

On 29 July 1732, Bajirao Peshwa-I granted Holkar State by granting 28 and a half parganas to Malhar Rao Holkar, the founding ruler of the Holkar dynasty. His daughter-in-law Ahilyabai Holkar moved the state's capital to Maheshwar in 1767, but Indore remained an important commercial and military centre.

After the defeat of the Holkar rulers in the Third Anglo-Maratha War, an agreement was signed on 6 January 1818 with the British and the Indore State became a British protectorate. The Holkar dynasty was able to continue to rule Indore as a princely state mainly owing to the efforts of Dewan Tatya Jog.

The capital was moved from Maheshwar to Indore on 3 November 1818 and the Indore Residency, a political residency with a British resident, was established in the city. Later, Indore would be established as the headquarters of the British Central India Agency. In 1906, electrical infrastructure was installed in the city while a fire brigade was established in 1909. By 1918, the first master plan of the city was drawn by architect and town planner Patrick Geddes.

During the period of Maharaja Tukoji Rao Holkar II (1852–86), efforts were made for the planned development and industrial development of Indore. During the reigns of Maharaja Shivaji Rao Holkar, Maharaja Tukoji Rao Holkar III, and Maharaja Yeshwant Rao Holkar, business flourished thanks to the railways that had been introduced in the state in 1875.

In 1926, Maharaja Tukoji Rao III Holkar XIII abdicated after being implicated in a murder case involving a court dancer and her lover.[3]

After the independence of India in 1947, Indore State, along with a number of neighbouring princely states, acceded to India. Yashwant Rao Holkar II, the last ruler of the state, signed the instrument of accession to the Indian Union on 1 January 1950. The territories of the state became part of the new Indian state of Madhya Bharat.

List of Rulers

The kings of Indore held the title of 'Maharaja' Holkar. The rulers of the state were entitled to a 19 gun salute by the British authorities.[4] The Holkar State Darbar (Court) was composed of many Jagirdars, Sardars, Istamuradars, Mankaris and Zamindars.[5] [6]

Maharajas

Name Birth Death Reign
Malhar Rao Holkar I1694 1766 1731 – 20 May 1766
1745 1767 20 May 1766 – 5 April 1767
Ahilya Bai Holkar (III)(f), regent and then Rani 1725 1795 April 1767 – 13 August 1795
1723 1797 13 August 1795 – 29 January 1797
(also listed as co-ruler from April 1767)
? 1808 29 January 1797 – January 1799
1798 1806 January 1799 – 1806
1776 1811 1806 – 27 October 1811
(regent from January 1799)
1801 1833 November 1811 – 27 October 1833
Maharani Tulsi Bai (f), regent ? 1817 November 1811 – 20 December 1817
1830 1849 27 October 1833 – 2 February 1834
1795 1843 2 February 1834 – 24 October 1843
1828 1844 24 October 1843 – 17 February 1844
Maharani Maji (f), first regency ? 1849 24 October 1843 – 17 February 1844
Tukoji Rao II Holkar XI
(knighted 25 June 1861)
1835 1886 27 June 1844 – 17 June 1886
Maharani Maji (f), second regency (s.a.) ? 1849 27 June 1844 – September 1849
Shivaji Rao Holkar XII
(knighted 30 June 1887)
1859 1908 17 June 1886 – 31 January 1903
Tukoji Rao III Holkar XIII
(knighted 1 January 1918)
1890 1978 31 January 1903 – 26 February 1926
Yashwant Rao II Holkar XIV
(knighted 1 January 1935)
1908 1961 26 February 1926 – 15 August 1947
Usha Devi Holkar 1961 present

Diwans of Indore

Prime ministers

• 1879 -1884: Bakshi Khuman Singh (C.S.I.)

British Residents

British Residents of the Indore Residency.[9]

British Agents

Agents to the Governor-General for the Central India Agency. The headquarters of the agent were at Indore.

Orders of chivalry

The Royal House of Indore awards the Order of Ahilya Holkar Sultanat, which is awarded in three classes. It was founded on November 22, 1900 by Maharaja Sir Tukojirao III Holkar XIII.[10]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Indore . 14 . 500–501 . James Sutherland . Cotton.
  2. Great Britain India Office. The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908.
  3. Book: Jhala. Angma Dey. Courtly Indian Women in Late Imperial India ("The Body, Gender and Culture") by. 2016. Routledge. London New York. 978-1138663640. 125. 1 February 2017.
  4. Web site: Indore Princely State (19 gun salute) . 13 July 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180606041013/http://members.iinet.net.au/~royalty/ips/i/indore.html . 6 June 2018 . dead .
  5. Book: Way of Life: King, Householder, Renouncer : Essays in Honour of Louis Dumont. Madan, T.N.. 1988. Motilal Banarsidass. 9788120805279. 129. 4 July 2015.
  6. Web site: Pt. II. Descriptive articles on the principal castes and tribes of the Central Provinces . Russell . Robert Vane . 1916.
  7. Book: Laurd, C. E. . Indore State Gazetteer Vol II . 1908 . Calcutta . Superintendent Government Printing . 43.
  8. Book: Rulers, Leading Families and Officials in the States of Central India . 1935 . 24.
  9. http://www.worldstatesmen.org/India_princes_A-J.html Princely States of India
  10. Book: Encyclopaedia Indica: Princely States in colonial India . 1996 . Anmol Publications . 978-81-7041-859-7 . 104. en.